Electoral district of Canterbury

Not to be confused with Canterbury (UK Parliament constituency) or Canterbury Region.

Canterbury is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, currently represented by Sophie Cotsis of the Labor Party.^[1]

Canterbury New South Wales—Legislative Assembly
Interactive map of district boundaries from the 2023 state election
State	New South Wales
Dates current	1859–1920, 1927–present
MP	Sophie Cotsis
Party	Labor Party
Namesake	Canterbury, New South Wales
Electors	57,164 (2019)
Area	18 km2 (6.9 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner metropolitan
Electorates around Canterbury: Bankstown Strathfield Summer Hill Bankstown Canterbury Heffron Oatley Kogarah Rockdale

Geography

On its current boundaries, Canterbury includes the suburbs of Belmore, Campsie, Canterbury, Clemton Park, Earlwood, Lakemba, Undercliffe, and parts of Beverly Hills, Kingsgrove, Roselands, and Wiley Park.^[2][3]

History

Canterbury was created in 1859, replacing part of Cumberland (South Riding), named after and including the then town, now Sydney suburb, of Canterbury. It was bordered on the east by Glebe and Newtown, and from 1880, Balmain and Redfern and stretched in the north to Drummoyne and Rhodes, south to Georges River and west to a line between Salt Pan Creek and Homebush Bay. It was a multi-member electorate, electing two members until 1882 and then four members until the abolition of multi-member electorates in 1894, when it was split into Canterbury, Ashfield, Burwood, Petersham and St George. It was abolished in 1920, with the introduction of proportional representation and absorbed into St George. It was recreated in 1927, and has been held by Labor for all but one term since. In recent decades it has become one of Labor's safest seats.

Members for Canterbury

First incarnation (1859-1920)
1859–1882, 2 members
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	Edward Flood [4]	None	1859–1860		Samuel Lyons [5]	None	1859–1860
	John Lucas [6]	None	1860–1865		Edward Raper [7]	None	1860–1864
					James Oatley [8]	None	1864–1869
	James Pemell [9]	None	1865–1868
	Richard Hill [10]	None	1868–1877
					Montagu Stephen [11]	None	1869–1870
					John Lucas [6]	None	1871–1880
	Henry Parkes [12]	None	1877–1880
	William Pigott [13]	None	1880–1882		William Henson [14]	None	1880–1882
1882–1885, 3 members
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	William Pigott [13]	None	1882–1884		Henry Moses [15]	None	1882–1885		Septimus Stephen [16]	None	1882–1885
	Mark Hammond [17]	None	1884–1885
					William Henson [14]	None	1885–1885
1885–1894, 4 members
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	Mark Hammond [17]	None	1885–1887		William Henson [14]	None	1885–1887		Septimus Stephen [16]	None	1885–1887		William Judd [18]	None	1885–1887
	William Lovel Davis [19]	Free Trade	1887–1889			Free Trade	1887–1889		Alexander Hutchison [20]	Free Trade	1887–1891		Joseph Carruthers [21]	Free Trade	1887–1894
	James Wilshire [22]	Free Trade	1889–1891		John Wheeler [23]	Free Trade	1889–1891
	Cornelius Danahey [24]	Labor	1891–1894		James Eve [25]	Free Trade	1891–1894		Thomas Bavister [26]	Labor	1891–1894
1894–1920, 1 member
Member		Party	Term
	Varney Parkes [27]	Free Trade	1894–1900
	Sydney Smith [28]	Free Trade	1900–1900
	Thomas Taylor [29]	Independent	1900–1901
	Thomas Mackenzie [30]	Liberal Reform	1901–1907
	Varney Parkes [27]	Independent Liberal	1907–1907
		Liberal Reform	1907–1913
	Henry Peters [31]	Labor	1913–1914
	George Cann [32]	Labor	1914–1920
Second incarnation (1927-present)
1927–present, 1 member
Member		Party	Term
	Arthur Tonge [33]	Labor	1927–1932
	Edward Hocking [34]	United Australia	1932–1935
	Arthur Tonge [33]	Labor	1935–1962
	Kevin Stewart [35]	Labor	1962–1985
	Kevin Moss [36]	Labor	1986–2003
	Linda Burney [37]	Labor	2003–2016
	Sophie Cotsis [38]	Labor	2016–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Canterbury

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2023 New South Wales state election (Legislative Assembly) § Canterbury.[edit]

2023 New South Wales state election: Canterbury^[39][40]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Sophie Cotsis	28,892	59.8	+6.2
	Liberal	Nemr Boumansour	8,341	17.3	−12.5
	Greens	Bradley Schott	4,354	9.0	−2.2
	Liberal Democrats	Vanessa Hadchiti	3,941	8.2	+8.2
	Sustainable Australia	Joe Sinacori	1,379	2.9	+2.9
	Animal Justice	Kacey King	1,376	2.8	+2.6
Total formal votes			48,283	95.3	−0.1
Informal votes			2,386	4.7	+0.1
Turnout			50,669	86.5	−0.2
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Sophie Cotsis	32,829	75.8	+10.5
	Liberal	Nemr Boumansour	10,494	24.2	−10.5
	Labor hold		Swing	+10.5